The present invention relates to a device for removing deposits from a photoconductive element which is installed in an electrophotographic copier, facsimile machine or similar image recorder.
In an image recorder of the kind described, a toner serving as a developer and silicone coated on a carrier sequentially deposit on the surface of a photoconductive element as the image recorder repeats its operation. It has been customary to cope with such deposits by removing them from the photoconductive element by use of a polishing material or by replacing the whole photoconductive element with another. This kind of approach, however, relies on time-consuming manual work and is apt to fail to clean the photoconductive element satisfactorily. Another approach heretofore proposed is to maintain a brush which contains or holds a polishing material in contact with the surface of the photoconductive element. This brings about another drawback that the brush is apt to scratch the surface of the photoconductive element and to allow the collected deposits to adhere again to the photoconductive element.